Hontoo ni Kowai
by Manta85
Summary: Manta hopes that his world will never change, only to jinx himself. Between Anna and Ren's sadistic mind games, Yoh & Horo's weirdness, & Ryu & Tamao's pity, he must try to survive as a girl.
1. Hansha

**Chapter One - Hansha (Reflection)**

Have you ever woke up one morning and found your world as you once knew it changed? It's happened to me before. I was a perfect student and a perfect son at one point. And then while taking one of my shortcuts home one evening, I ran into the strangest person. He sat in a grave yard, staring at the sky and rambling on about the stars.

"_Who hangs out in a graveyard?" _I thought. _"He must be a real weirdo."_

He was weird, alright. He talked to people who were dead. He fought with a katana. He made friends with fiends. And he showed me that even without my own physiological problems, I was a far cry from normal myself.

Two mornings after meeting him I woke up and realized that science and common sense were no longer the answers to all existence. No matter how hard I may have tried to deny it, there was no science in the battles I witnessed after that moment of truth. There was no common sense for the thoughts and feelings that began stirring throughout my body, mind, and soul.

Quite some time has passed since then. I've made many friends within the thinning shaman community, and while I am not a shaman, I feel natural among them. Yoh and Anna have been good to me, patient with my endless questions and fascination of their lifestyle among spirits. Ryu and Tamao are kind and often the first to volunteer to help when my physical circumstances make certain tasks unmanageable for me. Horohoro is very flamboyant and often reminds me to take some time to have fun. Ren is much more mature and intellectual and is often the one I turn to when I'm in need of honesty or support. Sometimes I even spend time alone with the spirits. Tokyo's increasing violence has begun spilling into the Funbari ga Ohka District. Amidamaru, Tokagero, and even Bason on occasion escort me if I have to be out late at night. I've never understood how it would help me, since I'm only human, but their company has always been enjoyable.

Sometimes it can be frustrating being the only human among shamans and spirits. I don't like to depend on my friends, but I'm also glad they care enough to help when I need it. Ryu once told me that my Best Place would be were I am happiest. I think this is where I will always be happiest. An adopted member of this family of shamans. I most certainly hope I will never wake up to find the world is a different place.


	2. Kyuu na Kyookoo

Disclaimer: 'Shaman King' © Hiroyuki Takei.

**Chapter Two - Kyuu na Kyookoo (Sudden Panic)**

Funbari Onsen. Jewel of the proprietress Itako, Kyouyama Anna-sama.

Kyouyama Anna-sama. A strong, beautiful shaman who lets nothing get in her way. Why, even her friends have the utmost respect for the shamanic beauty. Even her own friends refer to her as Anna-sama. Of course, they wish to live long enough to have children one day, so of course they have the utmost respect for her.

Which is why the weakest member of the onsen's staff awoke every morning before the alarm went off on his clock. A stretch of the arms, followed by a silent but long yawn, and then he sat up and looked around the room with a dopey gaze. Why did he have to be the one to do the morning cleaning _every single day!_ He wondered if he had displeased Anna at some point, and then fell back on his pillow with another yawn before closing his eyes while drawing his knees up. Whatever he ate the night before, it wasn't agreeing with him now, and with the sharp cramps tormenting him, he could only think of himself. So he rolled over, curled up around his pillow, and fell back to sleep. After all, Ryu would be up too. He could handle the pointless chores Anna gave him every morning.

-

Anna entered the kitchen and looked around with a quirked eyebrow. Breakfast was made, as always, but something seemed off. She looked to the table, and then frowned when she saw Ryu leaning in one of the chairs, his head hanging back to stare with a glazed expression at the ceiling. "Ryu, what are you doing?" She watched emotionlessly as the young man jerked back into a state of consciousness, only to have the chair slide out from under him and send him crashing to the floor.

"Itaii..." Ryu grumbled pathetically while holding the back of his head, and then looked up to his employer nervously. "Sorry, Miss Anna. I was tired and..."

"Why were you tired?" she demanded with a quirked eyebrow. "You have the same schedule every day. Unless you've been making late night visits to Tamao again, there's no reason you should tired."

Ryu turned bright red at Anna's accusation. "We stopped that when Big Brother caught us!" he cried. "Manta didn't get up this morning. I thought he was ill, so I did his chores for him."

"Those chores are not for you, Ryu," she replied irritably. "You get him up in the morning if he doesn't on his own, and you cook."

"But Miss Anna," the brunette continued nervously. "He has had a lot of homework this past week. I thought..."

"You're paid to do _your_ work. Not his," Anna snapped.

In the doorway, Amidamaru, Bason and Kororo were hovering with worried expressions. "Yoh-dono, Lady Anna seems very uptight this morning," the samurai whispered.

"Koro," Kororo replied with a quick nod.

Ren rolled his eyes while looking to the calender, and then smirked. "Hmph. Of course she is. Look what day it is."

Yoh and Horo looked to the calender confusedly, and then back to Ren. "What day is it?" the two older shamans asked in unison, causing the Tao to twitch in agitation.

"Look, you morons!" he almost shouted while pointing to one of the dates that was marked with the letters AP in bright red.

"AP?" Yoh asked dumbly. "What's AP? Apple Pie day?"

"Angler Party?" Horo guessed.

Ren stared at the two with utter disbelief. If he was the youngest of the three, why was he the only one who seemed to understand the significance of the date? "Anna's due, you idiots!" he snapped, and then pointed two boxes down. "As is Tamao in two days!"

Yoh stared with horrified eyes. "Anna's due? But... but how! We haven't even gone on a date!" He took a moment to think as his friends stared at him. "Oh my god! Tamao too!" This time his eyes went glassy and happy. "Tamao and Ryu are having a baby!" he cried in glee.

Ren and Horo's jaws dropped and didn't even notice the sound of a glass breaking in the kitchen after Yoh's cry.

"Yoh-dono," Amidamaru muttered in disbelief, then he and the other spirits disappeared before they ended up on the warpath that was drawing nearer.

"Ow!" Ryu cried as he was dragged out of the kitchen by the ear, and then looked to the others desperately.

"What is this about Tamao and Ryu having a baby?" she demanded angrily.

"Ren just told me and Horo!" Yoh cried nervously.

"I did not," Ren snapped, and then looked to Anna. "I was mentioning that you and Tamao were due soon, and that you girls would need to be treated well."

Horo's eye twitched. He remembered well the last time the girls were _due_. Anna nearly dislocated his face, and Tamao was simply insane. Had it really been a month since that terrible time? He shivered at the memories, and began mentally constructing an escape plan.

"Oh, so that's what he meant," Yoh laughed after Ryu finished explaining what Ren was pointing out, and then turned white. "But that means they're gonna send me to... to..."

"Aisle ten, Asakura," Ren sneered. "Won't it be fun?"

"Yoh, here's the list," Anna said while shoving a grocery list into the shiver shaman's hands. "And you had better get _everything_."

"Y-Yes, Anna," Yoh sobbed quietly, and then turned and walked off to find his sandals and wallet.

"You know, it wouldn't be that bad," Ryu said with a frown to Horo and Ren. "But that pharmacist seems to **live** in that aisle."

"The one that likes to lecture guys on the functions of a woman's body?" Horo asked with a frown.

"That's the one," Ryu and Ren replied together with a sigh.

"Ryu!"

"H-Hai, Miss Anna!" the eldest cried while standing at attention.

She quirked an eyebrow contemptuously, and then pointed a thumb towards the stairs. "Go get Manta up." She watched as he nodded quickly and rushed up the stairs, and then looked to Ren irritably. "Shouldn't you be doing something?"

"Nah," Ren replied with a grin. "I'm waiting for the fun to start."

"Fun?"

"You may scare the others, but you don't scare me," Ren scoffed.

Horo stared, and then covered his eyes. Sure. Maybe he and Ren weren't the best of friends. That didn't mean he wanted to see his partner decapitated by a girl's slap. He bit his lip, waiting for the sharp sound of hand against face, but it never came. And without any sound, he was suddenly curious to see what was happening.

Anna glared quietly at Ren, trying to read past his smirk. Looking for the tiniest sign of fear in the Tao. Of course, if it was there she would never find it, so finally her gaze softened. "And why is that?" she asked, barely giving a glance to Ryu when he came down the stairs.

"Because no matter how much of a terror you make yourself out to be, you're still just a woman losing blood," Ren replied with a smirk, and then headed towards the dining room. He knew all three of them were staring at him. Horo probably had the look of, 'He is my saviour!' while Ryu would be wondering if he had a death wish. And Anna would just be Anna, showing no emotion towards his belittlement. "Ryu, breakfast better be on the table."

"You could be a little ni..."

"You heard him," Anna interrupted, and then looked to Ryu with a dark gaze. That gaze was enough to make Horo's hope disappear in a burst of flames.

The brunette stared, his jaw hanging in disbelief. Now he had to take orders from Ren? And Tamao was going to turn into a carbon copy of Anna any day now. With a groan he decided that he would die this week., and then headed for the kitchen to fetch Ren his beloved milk.

"Yoh, why are you still here?" Anna demanded, knowing her fiancee was trying to sneak up the stairs without her noticing.

"I think I forgot my wallet upstairs," he laughed nervously. "I can't find it."

"Hey! I'll help you find it, Yoh!" Horo cried while grabbing his friend's hand, and then dragged him up the stairs in a blur.

"Hmph," was all Anna replied with before joining Ren in the dining room. She sat down and stared monotonously at the Tao for several minutes, waiting for Ryu to bring in their breakfasts. "You have a lot of nerve."

"It's your fiancee who always tells me to be honest," he said with a smug grin, and then looked up with a frown when they heard a shriek upstairs. "Sounds like Earl's tormenting Manta again."

"Sounds more like trouble," she replied with a frown, and then stood and walked out of the room.

-

Upstairs, Manta had just shut the bathroom door when he heard what could only have been Horo dashing by. He smiled while shaking his head, and then turned around and frowned. Somehow, everything seemed much smaller. Quickly blaming it on tired eyes, he walked over to the toilet and lifted the lid, but before he could do his business he realized that his boxers were unusually tight. _"I couldn't have eaten that much,"_ he thought confusedly, and then groaned when he felt sharp cramp.

_Dammit! I can't wait!"_ he shrieked angrily in his head while doing an odd kind of dance before he finally got them down, and then sighed in relief, only to frown seconds later when he realized something was very wrong. He looked down, and then it dawned on him that the yukata he was wearing fit him too well, considering he had borrowed it from Tamao the night before. Its form was also one that only belonged on somebody like his mother. His eye twitching, he stumbled over to the mirror and looked at his reflection with panic filling him. He stared for several minutes, and then slowly opened the robe, only to inhale sharply with surprise at what he saw. Quickly he looked down to inspect himself, until finally the inevitable overloaded his brain. He thought he heard a shriek, but the sound was distant as he slumped to his knees, and then he stared at the floor with a light tremor.

"Th-this... Wh-what... I-I'm... It's..." He continued with the one-word phrases, his brain officially fried and preventing him from making sense, even to himself.

"Manta-dono, are you all right?" Amidamaru cried while appearing, followed by Bason and Tokagero.

Tokagero quirked an eyebrow as the blonde continued to ramble on, and then looked to Bason and Amidamaru. "He looks fine to me."

"Manta, are you harmed?" Bason asked while hovering next to him.

"Manta, what's wrong?" Yoh cried as the bathroom door was pulled open, and then he and Horo froze. "Uh..."

"Dude, who's the babe?" Horo hissed to Yoh confusedly.

"Yoh-dono, is he injured?" Amidamaru asked while looking to his master. "I can't get him to answer.

"Him?" Yoh asked dumbly. "Amidamaru, what are you talking about?"

Amidamaru quirked an eyebrow, noticing Yoh couldn't seem to move his gaze from Manta, and then looked to the other spirits.

"Geez. You'd think he was looking at a naked chick," Tokagero muttered to the samurai. "Hey! Yoh! You alive in there?"

"Uh..." Horo blinked, and then slapped one hand over his eyes while using his other hand to do the same to Yoh. "Yoh, don't stare!"

Manta looked up slowly, his brain seeming to be slowly reprogramming itself. "Yoh-kun... What... How..."

"Manta?" Yoh asked incredulously while pushing Horo's hand away from his face, and then groaned while covering his eyes again. "Manta... Is that you?"

"Of course it's me!" the blonde shrieked.

"Yoh-dono, is he hurt?" Amidamaru demanded irritably.

"He?" Horo demanded, and then looked at the samurai. "What are you, blind? Manta's a short little guy. This chick is too tall and too hot and too girl to be Manta!"

Amidamaru quirked an eyebrow, and then looked back. "Manta-dono looks the same to me. I would recognize his spirit anywhere."

"Same here," Tokagero and Bason agreed.

"Spirits can't see physical differences," Anna replied while walking up, and then pushed past the boys and looked down at Manta. "They only see the souls that inhabit bodies."

"But... Manta's a guy!" Yoh cried in confusion.

"And that is most definitely a chick," Horo added. "I mean, check out those bo..."

Anna smacked her fist back into Horo's face before he could finish, and then glared at the blonde. "Manta, cover yourself or they'll be on you like a pack of hyenas."

There was a moment of silence before Manta realized what she said, and then pulled the robe closed tightly while staring at the floor. "This is so wrong... I'm supposed to worry about being with girls. Not actually being one!"

Anna smirked. "Perhaps it is your punishment for sleeping in."

Quickly Manta looked up, and then growled while pointing angrily at her. "You did this to me, didn't you, you witch!"

"It's an interesting punishment, but I don't have that ability," the Itako replied cooly, and then looked back over her shoulder. "Ryu!"

"Hai, Miss Anna?" the elder shaman replied confusedly.

"Take Manta to my room. Make sure these boys don't get any sudden urges to experiment or have fun."

"Dude! That's Manta!" Horo yelled. "That's disgusting!"

"And that's why you two are drooling over her breasts?" Anna replied with a smirk. She knew the moment Horo caught himself it would be a long time before he stopped banging his head against a wall. And he did just that after a moment of silence.

Yoh stared as Horo banged his head against the door frame, and then smiled nervously while looking at Anna. "I found the wallet. I think I'll just be on my way."

"Good idea," she replied dangerously, and then ushered the boys out of the bathroom to let Ryu in.

Ren watched from the stairs as Ryu walked Manta to Anna's room, and then smirked faintly. "Hmph. Little Manta's a girl now, huh?"

Bason appeared next to him nervously. "Master, I hope you aren't planning on doing anything... Well, anything you might regret."

"Nope," the young Tao replied smugly. "Just thinking about having some fun."

"That fun had better not include an exchange of fluids," Anna warned while approaching the Tao.

"Dearest Anna," Ren said coyly, "would I ever do such a thing to a lady?"

The girl cocked an eyebrow suspiciously. "Perhaps not. You would do something, though."

"You shock me, Anna," the younger gasped. "Manta comes from good blood, whether or not he's human. Believe me. Now that he, or rather, she is presentable, I intend to treat her as well as I treat Tamao or Jun."

Anna continued to glare suspiciously at Ren until she heard the front door open, and then looked down the stairs and saw Tamao had returned with the seeds she had asked the girl go go out and buy earlier in the day. She gave Ren one more glance of warning, and then finally went downstairs. "Tamao, I need your help with something."

Ren watched as the two girls walked into the living room, and then rolled his eyes while looking back towards Anna's room, already devising his first plan of attack as his smirk returned.

—

What caused Manta's abrupt changes? What dastardly plans does Ren have up his sleeve? How will Horo escape the monthly wrath of Anna and Tamao? And will Yoh make it back safely from Aisle 10? Stay tuned to find out!


	3. Hontoo ni Taihen

Guest starring: Goro as Goro, Yoko as Yoko, Junen as Junen, and Takeshi as Takeshi. (aka The Bullies)

A/n: If you read this, Shrimpy, let me know if I've got them right! I really liked your bullies. :D

**Disclaimer**: 'The Bullies' © Shrimpy Lil Shaman

**Chapter Three - Hontoo ni Taihen** (Really Strange)

Yoh peered nervously down Aisle 10, and then leapt away from it while whistling innocently as a young couple pushed their cart by. Why did he have to be the one to do the scary shopping? It simply wasn't nice or polite to send a man down that aisle. He peered down the aisle again, swallowed hard, and then groaned while drawing his head back. The pharmacist wasn't there, but it didn't help to quell the fear of entering that aisle. "This isn't very fair," Yoh sighed sadly.

"Yoh-kun?"

"Geh!" Yoh leapt, and then whipped around in search of the one who had called his name. He froze when he found himself staring at a boy his age with long, reddish hair that had been pulled back in a ponytail. He wore a simple pair of blue jeans, and a white shirt that had the image of a smiley face with a halo and wings. "Uh... Hi there, Junen!" the shaman cried, forcing himself to sound happy and miserably failing. He went to school with Junen, and for the most part they got along. There were two big problems, though.

One: Junen was a human. And not of the special sixth-sense variety like Manta. He was simply a human, and it was likely he thought Yoh and his friends were a little touched in the head.

Two: Junen was the youngest member of a small group of bullies. Sure, he didn't actually harm anybody. He was more the source of common sense. The one that kept things from getting out of hand. However, his friends were particularly protective of their contrasting member and often punished people for being around Junen. Especially if it was Yoh or his friends.

"Yoh-kun, you've been standing here for like ten minutes," Junen pointed out with a frown. "I'm pretty sure there's a law against loitering here."

"Wow! Has it really been ten minutes?" Yoh laughed nervously, and then added inwardly, _"It feels more like ten hours!"_

Junen stared at Yoh for a moment, and then smiled. "Miss Anna and Tamao-chan are having feminine problems, huh?"

"Um... Yeah," the brunette laughed nervously.

"Well then come on," Junen said while grabbing his hand, and then dragged the shaman down the dreaded aisle.

"H-Huh! How can you come down here so easily?" Yoh cried.

"Usually the guys and I have to do the shopping when our moms' friend is visiting," he explained, and then looked over the variety of products. "So what do Miss Anna and Tamao-chan need?"

Yoh stared blankly for a moment. "Uhh..." He grinned nervously. "I don't know. I usually just run through and look away while I grab the stuff on my way."

The human stared at him for a moment. "Do they use pads or tampons?"

"How should I know?" Yoh wailed. He had been serious when he described his method of shopping for the girls.

Junen continued to stare before finally he sighed. "Yoh-kun, it's no wonder Miss Anna is always so angry with you. Do you even know how much they lose?"

"Lose what?" Yoh asked pathetically.

"Yoh-kun!" Junen yelled irritably. "You make Takeshi look mature!"

"Well, well. What've we got here?" Yoh froze at the snide tone. Except for Ren, there was only one person who talked like that. Junen's friend, Yoko. "Aww. Asakura's growing up," the brunette sneered while walking up, followed closely by Goro and Takeshi.

Yoko was like Junen in that he had a certain femininity, but at the same time he was perhaps the evilest of the group. He seemed to focus his bullying towards Manta, messing up his assignments and often getting him into debates that neither he or Manta would talk about, even with their friends. He wore an outfit similar to Junen's, however instead of a bright, happy smiley, his was black and had the look of, "Come here so I can beat you with a bat."

Takeshi was perhaps the oddest in the group, simply because he looked so plain. Short brown hair, with no build and no feature that could be described as handsome or pretty. His main bullying targets were Yoh and Tamao. For Yoh, his reasons were simple. The boy was always happy and dreaming, and was a complete nutcase. His reasoning for picking on Tamao was a little more complex, dating back to a rejection when he asked her to be his steady girlfriend. Like his younger friends, he wore jeans and a plain shirt. His smiley was one with the face of death, a knife sticking out of the top of it.

And then there was Goro. If he didn't hang out with Yoko and Takeshi, he may have actually been a very nice boy. Many other students feared the bullies simply because they had Goro, who was rumoured to have put somebody in the hospital a few years back. Like Junen, he seemed very much to like Yoh. Perhaps it was because he was a little slow. However, his friends came first, and he was the worst person to put in protective mode when it concerned Yoko or Junen. Completing the fashion trend of the group, he wore jeans and an oversized shirt with a simple smiley.

"Y-Yoko. Takeshi. Goro!" Yoh said with a nervous smile, and then made a 'V' with his fingers. "Yo!"

"Junen, why are you associating with the enemy?" Takeshi snapped.

"Oh! Well," the red head began with a nervous grin, "it seems Miss Anna and Tamao-chan are due as well."

"Great. We get to go plug shopping with Asakura," Yoko groaned.

"N-No! That's fine, Yoko," Yoh laughed nervously. "You can go about your business."

"Guys, be nice," Junen said with a frown, and then lowered his voice to a whisper. "I think Yoh-kun may be new to this kind of shopping."

"Is that so?" Yoko replied, and then he and Takeshi looked at each other with smirks.

Junen's eyes widened, realizing they were planning something, and then began pushing them away quickly.

Goro watched as his friends were ushered away, and then looked at Yoh with a smile. "Is Tamao-chan doing okay?"

"Yeah," the shaman replied with a smile, and then looked to the shelf worriedly. "What's the difference between these, anyway?"

"Um... Junen says these ones are so girls can swim when they're bleeding," the giant boy explained while pointing to one shelf. "He said they can make you really sick, though."

Yoh watched as Goro looked through the shelves, and then smiled a bit. "Are they like bandages?"

"How should I know?" the boy asked while looking back confusedly. "I don't need them. Just my mom."

"Oh. Yeah," Yoh replied with a laugh.

"Girls shouldn't use them if they're still clean, though," he continued, and then picked out a package and gave it to Yoh. "I think Tamao-chan needs these."

Yoh looked at the package for a moment, and then looked up. "How do you know?"

The bully blushed while glancing away. "One day at school she was crying and wouldn't move. The guys didn't like it, but Junen and I told her we'd help."

The shaman smiled as the bully explained, and then gave him another 'V' with his fingers. "Yoko and Takeshi are lucky to have you two." He looked back to the shelf nervously. "But what about Anna? I don't think even you can help on that one."

Goro laughed nervously. There was only one person he was truly afraid of. "Perhaps you should get the same for her."

After retrieving the product, Yoh watched as Goro went on to choose a number of packages, and then smiled again. "Sankyuu, Goro."

The bully blushed while looking back, and then nodded while moving on to rejoin his friends.

-

Tamao smiled weakly while brushing the mass of blonde hair that rest in her lap. "It's not so terrible, Manta-sama," she said nervously. Since Anna had explained to her Manta's situation she had been somewhat uneasy. Should she be nervous or pitying? Should she be sympathetic or empathetic? Perhaps she shouldn't say a word, but maybe it would better to encourage her friend.

Manta was curled on her side tightly, her arms wrapped in a deliberate fashion around her chest in case one of the guys should happen to come in, and her expression somewhat agitated. "Tamao, why is it you hit me when I gave you a mistletoe kiss last Christmas, and now you're letting my head rest in your lap?"

Tamao blinked. "Well... It's not like you can do anything dirty... right?"

"I can think of things," she pouted angrily. It was nice having a girl's attention for once, but this was certainly not how she wanted to gain it.

Tamao stared blankly at her companion. Somehow she was capable of being completely naive around other girls, but once she was around guys she panicked. How did that work? In any case, she was baffling the blonde, and could only smile nervously. "Well, I suppose if somebody here did it, it couldn't have been Yoh-sama or HoroHoro."

"Why not?" Manta muttered.

"Well... They don't like shopping for just me and Anna. Do you think they would want to shop for another girl?"

It was a good point. It was also a good thing Manta hadn't caught onto what kind of shopping she was referring too. She was already upset as it was.

"Tamao-chan? Manta? Lunch is ready," Ryu called through the door.

"Hai!" Tamao called back.

"I'm not leaving this room," Manta replied.

"Hmm? Manta-sama?"

"I'm not going out so those hyenas can see me like this."

Tamao smiled weakly. "Ren-sama and HoroHoro have gone to train, and Yoh-sama is still out."

"Anna is one of them," the blonde growled lowly. "I _know_ she's the reason I'm like this."

Tamao shook with a nervous giggle, and then grasped her hand. "Manta-sama, I'm sure Anna would never do something like this. It's too juvenile. And you know she wouldn't tease you."

"She will give me the look. That's how she teases," she replied angrily.

"Miss Anna says if you won't come down and eat you may starve," Ryu called regretfully through the door.

Tamao watched quietly as Manta's expression changed, and then smiled weakly. "I suppose we should get you into something more conservative than a yukata, Manta-sama."

-

Ryu sighed while sitting down at the table, and then took a long drink from his glass of juice before wiping his mouth and looking up to Anna. "Is Manta as attractive as Horo made her sound?"

"You saw her for yourself," Anna replied cooly, and then quirked an eyebrow when Ryu made an unsettled grunt. "What is it?"

"I... I generally kept my eyes shut if I was facing her," Ryu replied sheepishly.

Anna's cold glare faltered, and then grew curious. "The great lover Bokuto no Ryu looked the other way?"

"It seemed... Hell. The idea of Manta being anything but Manta is just weird. I didn't know what to do or think."

Anna smiled a bit. "That's the nice thing about you, Ryu. You know your place."

The brunette stared unsurely for a moment, and then smiled weakly. "Thanks, I think."

"Horo exaggerated earlier. The only thing that separating Manta from Tamao and I is her breasts, which happen to be a bit more developed than ours. She's no more attractive than Tamao is."

Ryu struggled to fight down a blush. Frankly he considered Tamao the prettiest girl in Funbari, so using her as a comparison for Manta didn't help him to establish a mind set.

"Thank you for making lunch, Ryu-san."

The battle of the blush was lost at the sound of Tamao's voice, and he grinned at the girl. "It's nothing, Tamao-chan!" he replied enthusiastically, and then looked towards the door thoughtfully. "Manta?"

Manta stood stalk still. Her hair still hung down to about her shoulder blades, and she appeared to be Tamao's height. As Anna had mentioned, her chest was more developed, and appeared to have a fuller figure in comparison to Anna's petite frame. The facial characteristics seemed to be the same, aside from her face being less rounded and her eyelashes being a little more noticeable. Still, there was a childish quality to it, and her nose remained small.

It seemed her scars remained as well. The fine, straight lines carved by Faust were visible where the shirt she wore didn't cover, and her nose was still sunken in. An injury that would remain after Hao's follower had kicked her during the tournament. He also noted that she tilted slightly to the right. He considered questioning the tilt, but decided he was more interested in where Manta got his clothes.

"Whose clothes are those?"

Apparently, Anna felt the same way.

"Well, my jeans fit him quite well," Tamao said with a smile.

"She eats as much as you do. It makes sense."

Ryu's eye twitched. About the only time he actually got upset with Anna was when she nagged others about how much they ate.

"Um..." Tamao began making little nervous mumbles while pressing her index fingers together. "None of our shirts fit her too well. I would have borrowed one of Ren's, but you know how he is. And Horo's laundry was all dirty, so..."She looked at the floor and idly drew patters with her foot. "I borrowed one of Yoh-sama's shirts."

Anna was obviously upset. Her breathing had become so light that you wouldn't have been able to hear it at the dead hour of night. Her hands were clenched lightly and her eyes had narrowed considerably. "Ryu has plenty of shirts."

"Whose underwear is she wearing?" Tokagero asked with a smirk after materializing behind Manta. True, the spirits couldn't see the physical changes Manta had gone through, but that wasn't going to stop the bandit from poking fun and fanning the flames of hate.

"Tokagero," Ryu scolded firmly.

"Dammit," Ponchi complained while floating in through the window. "And here I thought we'd get to see some boobs!"

"Yeah!" Conchi whined while following his pal.

"I'm looking at a couple of boobs right now," Anna said icily to the yamagami, and then looked to Manta. "After we eat, you're getting your own clothes."

"Huh? So hastily, Anna-sama?" Tamao squeaked. "What if he becomes himself in the morning?"

"Well then I guess you'll have some extra clothes, won't you Tamao?" she replied cooly.

Ryu and Tamao shivered nervously while Manta gave the Itako an annoyed look, and then sat down and began eating quickly. There was no way in hell she was about to go out into public looking the way she did.


End file.
